City Council committee advances Emanuel's controversial trust plan

A Chicago City Council committee today recommended approval of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial expansion of public-private partnerships on major construction projects, setting the stage for a Wednesday vote by all 50 aldermen.

The Finance Committee’s 11-7 vote represented a close tally and followed hours of questions by aldermen and some criticism from public advocacy groups.

Emanuel wants the council to authorize the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, but some aldermen are concerned that would result in giving the mayor close to blank-check authority over major public works projects. Questions linger about having a board dominated by corporate financiers handpicked by the mayor and a lack of some of the checks and balances adopted over the years to keep City Hall in line.

At Monday’s hearing, some aldermen wondered why there’s such a rush by Emanuel to push through the trust ordinance only a month after the mayor’s office introduced it.

“Until I have answers to all my questions, I’m not prepared to support this ordinance,” Reilly said. “It could be an excellent program, I don’t have enough information to make a solid decision.”

Among Reilly’s concerns are clear protections against conflict of interest of board members, the potential risk and liability of the deals, and that the council has no jurisdiction over projects that are undertaken by the city’s sister agencies.

Ald. John Arena, 45th, said he the city’s inspector general needs to have explicit authority over the trust.

“There’s a gaping hole in the policing of this,” Arena said. “They want to move it forward, but there aren’t projects we have to do tomorrow.”

Ald. Patrick O’Connor, the mayor’s floor leader, said he believes the administration has the votes to pass the ordinance on Wednesday.

“I do think some of the changes have helped a few of the members to come around to it,” said O’Connor, 40th.

“A lot of us have expressed the concern about how this thing grows and in what direction it grows,” O’Connor said. “Hopefully we’ll be more in the success column than the failure column.”